s we begin with a stunning show of defiance from the nfl against president trump in cities all across the country every single kickoff players, coaches and team owners are kneeling or locking arms in solidarity after president trump called for the nfl to fire any player who refuses to stand during the national anthem. this is the falcons and lions game. a singer who performed the national anthem took a knee and raised his fist in the air. ♪ land of the free

♪ and the home of the brave >> in nashville at the titans seahawks game both teams stayed in the locker room while the anthem played. the anthem singer at this game taking a knee. in chicago the steelers stayed in their locker room during the an them. only one player stood alone on the edge of the field with his hand over his heart. president trump is officially responding to these protests. it's unclear if he supports them or possibly misunderstands them. here is his tweet. great solidarity for the national anthem and for our country. standing with locked arms is good. kneeling is not acceptable. bad ratings. if you are asking how we got here to the nfl publically protesting the president and the president publically demanding

that nfl players be fired? it all started on friday when president trump went on a tear during a rally in alabama. here is a reminder of what he said. you may find this language offensive. >> wouldn't you love to see one of these nfl owners when somebody disrespects our flag to say get that son of a bitch off the field now? he is fired. >> with one more nfl game kicking off this evening the league is planning to air a message of unity. a one minute ad produced for the super bowl earlier this year. more than two dozen nfl franchises have spoken out in support of players and commissioner roger goodell. andy scholes is joining us now. what have we seen on the field today. give us a larger sense. >> every nfl team on saturday nights have team meetings before they are set to get on the

field. it is clear in all of the meetings the players and coaches discuss president trump's comments and what they were going to do about them. as we saw across the nfl each team had a plan whether that plan was to lock arms together or some players if they wanted to to kneel or some wanted to sit it was up to them. as you can see in that tita titans/seahawks game both teams deciding to remain in the locker room during the national anthem. the same thing done by the pittsburgh steelers. none of them came out on the field with the exception of one player. their head coach mike tomlin explained the decision of why they remained in the locker room for the national anthem. let's take a listen. >> we are not participating in the anthem today. not to be disrespectful to the anthem, to remove ourselves from this circumstance. people shouldn't have to choose. if a guy wants toparticipate in the anthem he shouldn't be forced to choose sides. if a guy feels the need to do something he shouldn't be

separated from his teammate who chooses not to. we are not participating today. that is our decision. we came here to play a football game. that's our intentions and we are going to play and play to win. >> that means your team will not be on the field? >> we will not be on the field. >> there was one exception. villanuevo did come out. he graduated from west point clearly coming out for the national anthem is something very important to him and something he decided to do even though the rest of his teammates decided to remain in the locker room. on to something we had not seen before in terms of demonstrations and showing signs of unity before, during the national anthem was owners participating in that with the players. that is something we definitely saw today. in london you see arm in arm with his star julio jones with their head coach jim caldwell.

jeffrey laurie with the philadelphia eagles. owners were down there with their players showing a sign of unity. that is something we had not seen when it comes to these signs of unity during the national anthem before today. >> note worthy that some of the owners donated to president trump, a million dollars was his donation for his inaugural committee yet he is on the field showing the solidarity. is there anyone we are hearing from the nfl defending the president? >> in terms of today i saw no signs of anyone defending anything that president trump said. it seems that everyone is in agreement that they wanted to show a sign of solidarity. in the nfl those players consider themselves brothers. when the president said that one of the brothers should be fired, those guys showed us today that they are going to stick together. >> thanks for that.

i want to bring in ryan young live outside soldier field in chicago where the bears play the pittsburgh steelers. the big talker was that all steelers except for one player chose to stay in the locker room for the national anthem. what was the reaction from fans? >> what an interesting conversation. i really thought when we arrived here a lot more people would be informed. we learned from talking to people some people were not aware of the reasons why they were protesting or deciding to stay on the inside or why donald trump decided to aim some of his focus towards these players. by each person we talked to one after another they were surprised that it had gotten this big. we were discussing with people what they would like to see moving forward. you talk about soldier field. this is a place that honors soldiers. then you had that back and forth with people in terms of maybe this wasn't the place to do it. according to some fans some players were booed.

listen to fans about what they had to say about what happened here today. >> it's a show of disrespect. not only for those that have fought and died for our country, but those who are currently serving and i just i disagree with it. >> i think that the message you are sending is as a unit you are a team. you are a team player that is very awesome. at the same time you are facing a nation. it is nation versus team. >> i think personally they should stand up for the national anthem. that is my personal opinion. i respect the players' rights to take the knee. soldier field has history. when they didn't come out i was surprised. >> ooii think it was disrespect and went from one person now to a whole team. any type of funding or whatever happening with the government should be pulled away from the nfl. >> to me had a brother lost his

life in the war. to see somebody not be respectful i have been a firm believer of two signs to the story. not to know the other side is killing me. i have to get their side of the story. we are in soldier field. if you are going to stand for the flag and national anthem this is where you do it at. >> looking at my social media i was surprised by some of the answers because of the fact that they were saying that they were informed about why this would happen here and today. then you have other people who did not want to be on camera. they said they came here to enjoy the game and didn't want to talk politics and hated the fact that people were using the time or presidency to weigh in. there is the split in terms of what is going on here. a bigger conversation will be happening across the sports world. some people said they are fed up with it. one thing to remember, until 2009 a lot of times nfl teams stayed in the locker room for the anthem. this became a recent part of nfl

history with teams coming out for the national anthem. some saying they would like to see it go away. some others are saying it is time to stand. people are split on this one. >> very quickly, did anybody actually leave as the president had suggested that would be another way of affecting change and preventing the athletes from taking a kneel? >> reporter: i didn't see anyone leave. these tickets are really expensive. folks we were talking to on the outside were trying to get in. they wanted to learn more about the issues for why this was going on. >> reporter: there in chicago for us. as we mentioned two nfl teams, all the players and the staff unified for a dramatic pregame protest. i'm talking about the seattle seahawks and tennessee titans. their game began just in the last hour. take a look at what happened when the national anthem began. not a single titan or seahawks in sight. every player on two nfl teams choosing to stay in their respective locker rooms.

i want to read this from the seattle plauers, the seahawks. we will not stand for the injustice that has plagued people of color in this country. out of love for our country and in honor of the sacrifices made on our behalf we unite to oppose those that would deny our most basic freedoms. we remain committed and continue to work towards equality and justice for all. let's talk more about this with a life long nfl giants fan and abc news political contributor. member of donald trump for president advisory board and sports editor for the nation and co author of an upcoming book with michael bennett about the nfl and racism. before today bennett sat down for the national anthem in every game this season. dave, i will start with you writing a book with the outspoken bennett what have you learned? what is the message? >> i have learned that the nfl is a brotherhood and donald trump never played football,

doesn't understand that. i think that is why he really stepped in this in this particular issue. the nfl is such a brotherhood that even though many players do not necessarily stand or kneel on questions of racism or police brutality they believe that the president of the united states should not use the greatest bully pulpit in the world to call for people to get fired. michael bennett's mother, penny bennett whom i know is a teacher for over 20 years and a bufl person. if you look at michael bennett's response to the speech he said my mother is a wonderful person. she is not a bitch. >> let's be careful with the language. >> i'm trying to be careful with the language but i am deeply offended knowing how upset the players are. trump needs to understand that you can't do that. nfl players have a solidarity with one another that will not

allow such a thing to go unchallenged. >> and yet we heard from fans. they didn't really understand the message from these players that are taking a knee during the national anthem. >> and with all deep, deep respect to the reporter on the scene, he was asking chicago fans about the pittsburgh steelers. i mean, that is just not exactly where -- it's like going to an army game and asking about navy. you are not going to get most unbiassed thoughts. of course, fans are going to be divided. i was very struck today watching games and surveying it that even though some of the buooing was reported it was not that much. yes, we are divided but trump is on an island with about 35% of the country. i think most folks are absolutely shocked that the president of the united states would use this kind of coarse language and go after people who work for private corporations and say they should lose their

jobs for expressing first amendment rights in a ritual only around since 2009. >> is president trump on an island here as dave suggested? >> it's a big giant island that looks like a continent. you saw what the report was. the reports were that it was massive going much more than typical nfl game. second of all, your reporter couldn't find a single fan who didn't agree with the president in this case. this is a case of talking heads in media completely missing the vote and donald trump. >> he said people were divided. >> everybody on air seemed to athey supported the president's position. >> do you think the president miscalculated the back lash? when you see the protests and nfl owners are outspoken donald trump fans unite against the president's comments. >> i think the president exactly knows wrlt heart of the country is on this issue. i think this issue really unites

people much more than it divides people. the flag, the anthem. people are trying to make it about all kinds of things it is not. the reality is that the nfl is very hypocritical when it comes to allowing players to comment. the president called it out. americans agree with him. >>. >> this is the logic that we get into all the time when donald trump makes these really classless divisive, disgraceful comments as president of the united states. citizen donald trump made a career out making a spectacle of himself and people watched him for that. now that he is president of the united states there are real-life consequences to the things that he says and does. as much as i as the granddaughter of a world war ii veteran, as the wife of a federal law enforcement officer who serves at the pleasure of

this president and the flag, the office of the presidency, i am very proud of this flag. i am proud of this country. i don't agree with kneeling as a protest but i support their right to do it. the president of the united states coming out and framing it this way has taken away the merits of any of the arguments on both sides. we can have a discussion about whether it is that flag that represents the people who sacrificed for the country to give these often times poor young black men and a talent and opportunity. god bless america for that opportunity for them. then we can talk about why they are protesting. that has merit. but none of that happens now because the president of the united states is engaged in tribal politics. he is on an island. he is not representing the majority of the american people in the way that he came out with that classless language calling women that and then again we are not surprised. we know what he said about

grabbing women by the gentitles >> let's not pretend that sob is about the woman or mother. >> he is the president of the united states. respect for the office and that is not respectful of the office. it is beneath the office of the presidency and disgraceful. >> the president just this afternoon said this has nothing to do with race. your response to that? >> donald trump's last 40 years have had everything to do with race. whether you are talking about housing discrimination issue, treatment of central park five in the 1980s, people who he surrounded himself with in the white house, the list goes on and on. i put a point on the issue of who donald trump chooses to use his bully pulpit to attack. it is almost used exclusively for people of color and women. he thought to himself in his

lizard brain i am will go after rich young black men. i'm in front och this alabama crowd. what can go wrong? what he did not expect that these young black men were part of a brotherhood who include billionaire brothers and coaches and a lot of fans. interviewing four chicago fans who are going to steelers game and hearing their comments expressing ambivalence and saying trump is on a continent everybody supports him is absurd. it is living in a bubble. >> don't pretend like he doesn't know. he owned a professional football team. >> he ran a football team into the ground. you want to debate usfl. >> whatever the president does this is not a racial comment. you want to turn it into a racial comment. it is comment about respect for the national anthem. by the way, respect for nfl.

he did say that. so i think it is important because you are expressing what we are hearing from one side of this issue certainly. there are a lot of people who agree with you. there are others like martellus bennett who tweeted the idea of real donald trump thinking that suggesting firing me from football confirms that he thinks that it's all that i can do as a black man. people are interpreting this as a racist issue. >> people are projecting it because it helps them to project this is a racist issue. why does that say it shower only thing he can do. >> it somehow suggests that being fired from using the platform. to use that and show disrespect

for the flag and anthem and saying go find another kind of job where you are not in the public eye doesn't remotely relate to that. it is unbelievably contorted logic. you try to find logic to suggest. there is no racial amnesty behind it. it is simple question of respect. >> these people are saying their voices aren't being heard. they are saying you don't understand what it is like to walk in the shoes of somebody who is african-american. >> i don't. i understand how that tweet saying you don't understand what it is like to -- he said that the president suggested that i couldn't get another job outside of professional sports. the president said nothing of the sort. the president said he thinks that people agree that they like to see these people fired who get up there and use the platform they have to dent great the united states of america. >> the bottom line is the president shouldn't be weighing

in in that capacity at all. there are people suffering in puerto rico. americans suffering in the florida keys. north korea and iran are testing missiles. there are other things the president of the united states should be focussing on. i'll tell you what. i actually shed a tear today watching the opening national anthem ceremony of the giants/eagles game and shed a tear after they lost. it was emotional because i look as someone who is an american, life long football fan and many americans who want to go and enjoy the game and the idea of saluting our flag and respecting our men and women in uniform and being able to go and enjoy that what used to be national unity i think of post 9/11 and how proud everyone was. i look at the player in the military. good for him. we should never be ashamed of our patriotism. now we have created this

environment that we can't even enjoy a football game on sunday and proudly stand up for the american flag and what the country represents. donald trump has decided to weigh into thits like some citizen on the street at a bar and disrespecting the office of presidency sblmpt dethe delusion of what the country ever was. i remember that literally one day after 9/11 on september 12 a school in chaff walifornia was because they had god bless america. politicians come around the issue when it is convenient for them for a minute. >> i remember for months that everyone had flags in cars and windows and front lawns. >> some people did and other people criticized. >> and that flag represents their freedom to do that and the freedom for those players as long as--and the president seems to think that that doesn't apply. >> no. no.

no. >> last word. >> the president did not say it was wrong. he said they should be fired from their jobs. that is wrong. the idea of using the bully pulpit to try to deny someone employment from a private company. if that happened in another country we would be calling for economic or military intervention. don't interrupt me. >> about race relations and gender relations. it happens all the time. >> great cable news interrupting nicely done. what you do not understand is what donald trump did was wrong and to defend it puts you on the wrong side of history. >> we disagree. >> i appreciate everybody coming on and having this discussion. it's an important one. we will have you all back to continue another time. thank you all. coming up, a gunman opens fire on church goers leaving a service in tennessee and telling sunday school teachers to keep

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welcome back. you are in the cnn news room. this is moments ago. you see the president coming off air force one. he will board marine one and head back to the white house after spending the weekend in new jersey. and he did speak with reporters just before he boarded air force one. we are working to turn those comments for you. we will bring those to you as soon as we can. police are calling a 22-year-old usher who confront a gunman outside a small church near nashville, tennessee this afternoon a hero. the violence broke out when the

gunman shot and killed a woman in the church parking lot and then went into the back of the church and started shooting before the usher stopped him. the attack left at least seven people wounded including the young, brave usher. looking into this violent attack. what more are you learning? >> these services were wrapping up in antioch, tennessee. we know that nashville police are identifying the gunman. 25 year old from nearby county by the name of emanuel samson. investigators trying to determine a motive. they believe he showed up at the church according to reports just after 11:15 in the morning, shot and killed a woman in the parking lot before making his way inside the church of christ in antioch, tennessee and opening fire inside wounding at least sex other people who are expected to recover. that is when he came

face-to-face with robert engel. he is a 22-year-old usher who confronted the gunman according to police. >> what i would say about the usher, he physically engaged the shooter and during the struggle the shooter was shot. at this time we don't know exactly what happened whether he shot himself or whether the gun discharged. he sustained serious injuries and he is a hero. he is the person who stopped this madness. we are very grateful to him. >> so hero seems to be emerging from all of this. 11-year-old robert engel who is said to be okay. he was licensed to have a firearm at the time when he confronted the gunman who is also recovering from injuries. we are told he is currently in the process of being cleared by medical personnel and handed to authorities. the question that everybody is asking, a motive here.

>> why? do we know if he had a relationship with any of these victims? >> it's a good question. police are quick to say that they do not believe he is directly involved with this church and not related to this church but they did say they that have found quote certain things that they encountered in this investigation. they would not elaborate more. that clearly indicates that police and investigators are on a track to trying to answer the question you just posed, why. still to come here in the newsroom we have details about the how the president's son-in-law jared kushner used a private e-mail server to correspond with other white house officials. is willie. he's on his way to work in alaska. this is john. he's on his way to work in new mexico. willie and john both work for us, a business that employs over 90,000 people in the u.s. alone.

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jared kushner, president trump's son-in-law and senior adviser has used a private e-mail account to communicate with other white house officials. it's a remarkable development considering the trump campaign's unrelenting attacks on hillary clinton's e-mail use during the election. let's go straight to cnn white house correspondent athena jones near the president's golf club. what more are you learning? >> reporter: as you mentioned we know that jared kushner used his personal e-mail account to communicate with administration officials on occasion. we have a statement from kushner's lawyer who insists that jared kushner uses his white house e-mail address to conduct white house business but lowell went on to say fewer than

100 e-mails were sent to or returned by mr. kushner to colleagues in the white house from his personal e-mail account. usually forwarded news articles or political commentary and usually occurred when someone initiated the exchange. so kushner's lawyer saying there is no story here really. there is nothing that was bad going on here. it is important to note that this was a private account. you will remember during the example candidate trump spent a lot of time bashing hillary clinton over this private server issue often trying to raise questions about credibility by suggesting the use of a private server showed she was trying to hide something. this is a private e-mail

account. still it is odd given the level of focus on the idea that hillary clinton wasn't using government accounts and government system to conduct this business. it's odd to see a senior white house official even send whether only 100 e-mails, send any e-mails in this way. the concern about the use of personal e-mails is that it could go against the presidential records act which requires that they be preserved in some way. lowell says all nonpersonal e-mails were forwarded to kushner's official address. this is still likely to be controversial in some quarters. and given all of the investigations going on into the 2016 election and russian meddling in the election and whether any trump associates or aides were directly involved it is possible that kushner's

private e-mail traffic could be of interest to investigators whether on capitol hill or in the fbi. >> athena jones for us in somerset. moments ago the president was asked about a bunch of different issues. we will hear from him in a moment. he is firing back at football players, coaches and owners after that unprecedented show of defiance across the nfl. we will have the latest in the escalating controversy right now. let's watch. >> i watched a little bit. i was not watching the games today. believe me, i am doing other things. i watched a little bit and i will say there was tremendous solidarity for our flag and our country. >> your friend robert kraft said he is disappointed by what you said friday. >> that's okay. he has to take his ideas and go with what he wants. i think it is disrespectful to our country and very disrespectful to our flag. i like bob very much.

he is my friend, but he gave me a super bowl ring a month ago. he is a good friend of mine. i want him to do what he wants to do. but we have a great country. we have great people representing our country especially our soldiers and first responders. they can be treated with respect. when you get on your knee and you don't respect the american flag or the anthem that is not being treated with respect. nothing to do with race. i never said anything to do about race. this has nothing to do with race or anything else. this has to do with respect for our country. >> we have a tax plan. i think it would be terrific. i think it is knowing to go through. it will be the largest tax cut in the history of our country. >> discuss possible -- >> i never heard that mentioned.

>> corporate rate 20%? >> i hope the corporate rate will be 15%. >> we'll see what happens. i hope it will be 15%. it will be substantially lower so we bring jobs back into our country. >> individual rate to be 35%? >> we think we will bring individual rate to 10% or 12%, much lower than right now. this is a plan for middle class and companies so they can bring back jobs. >> i have been watching for seven years. you have john mccawill cain joh voting no. it is great for maine and alaska. every state you are talking about it happens to be particularly good for so i don't know what they're doing but eventually we will win whether

now or later. >> the republicans have been saying for seven years repeal and replace. now they have a chance. the funny thing is in arizona it is up 116%. in maine it is way up. they get a tremendous amount of money with the grants. you look at alaska, one of the biggest would be alaska and these are the people against it. eventually we will win on that. my primary focus is taxes. i believe we will be successful in the largest tax cut in our country's history. i will see you later. >> those comments moments ago from the president. >> and, of course, he hit on a number of different issues from taxes promising the largest tax cut in american history and asked about the health care plan

saying we will win whether now or later and was asked about the developing controversy regarding comments that nfl players who kneel during the national anthem should be fired. i want to bring in boris sanchez standing by in washington for us. the president on that last issue, the nfl and the national anthem protests, he is not backing down. instead he is digging in. i should tell you the president has just returned to the white house after several days he has a busy week ahead but also this tax reform roll out that you heard him discuss there. it really draws into question why the president is choosing to focus on this issue of nfl players taking a knee during the national anthem. it's something that he first

brought up during the rally in alabama on friday. he reiterated it this morning on twitter telling nfl fans that they should boycott the league in order to force owners to do something to make the players stand during the national anthem. you heard during that gavel with reporters before leaving saying he thinks that the owners should do something about this. one of the curious things about that session with reporters is when he was asked about whether or not his comments inflamed race relations and he said this has nothing to do with race. if you go back over a year back to august of last year when colin kaepernick first started kneeling during the national anthem his reasoning was that he was protesting against the way that he feels police officers treat people of color. so you have these players doing this in port to protest race relations and the president saying this has nothing to do with race. to highlight that he did tweet

out writing in part courageous patriots have fought and died for our american flag. we must honor and respect it. he also retweeted someone who wrote that if you boycott the flag we will boycott you. calling for a boycott of the nfl we heard league officials and owners saying they are disappointed in the president's comments including a friend of donald trump's, patriots owner robert kraft who said politicians could learn something from the teamwork that players display on the field every week. you heard the president saying that robert kraft is still a friend and has to do what he has to do. there are still more nfl games later today. we may see more statements made on the field and perhaps the president responding as he usually does on twitter. >> boris sanchez out of the white house. thank you. former green bay packers player is going to joip us with his

reaction to this developing feud between the president and the league. stay with us. we just got to take it one game at a time. next question. odell. odell. can you repeat everything you just said? my livestream won't load. (blows whistle). technical foul. wrong sport. wrong network. see you need unlimited on verizon it's america's largest most reliable 4g lte network. it won't let you down in places like this. even in the strike zone. (laughs). it's the red zone. pretty sure it is the strike zone. here use mine. alright. see you on the court champ. heads up! when it really, really matters you need the best network and the best unlimited. plans now start at $40 per line for four lines. [fbi agent] you're a brave man, your testimony will save lives. mr. stevens? this is your new name. this is your new house. and a perfectly inconspicuous suv.

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president trump's gripe with the nfl igniting. how do these topics intersect with one of america's favorite past times? football? i want to get perspective from eric matthews who helped the green bay packers win the super bowl in 1997. thanks for joining us. >> thank you for having me. when president trump called for players who kneel to be fired what was your first reaction? >> my first reaction was more of what he -- how he said it. and that to me was more disrespectful than anything to call somebody out. that was really like you are really doing this on national tv where we have kids who actually watch. our president is talking like this to a player that kids look up to and to me that was a slap

in the face for our president, the highest level of government to come on tv and talk to people, american citizens this way. so that right there to me was like a slap in the face for our president to do something like that. >> and as an african-american man seeing that the protests are primarily by african-american members of the national football league did you take it personally? >> people don't realize this has nothing to do with the nfl. >> kaepernick -- i think people lost perspective of what was going on. this whole thing started where it was something that was going on. now it's taken another leg with the president coming on talking about these, using foul language against american citizens again.

what they're beliefs for. >> for their first amendment right? >> yes. yes. so for the president to say we don't have that right. that's like i say a slap in the face. you don't have that right. >> what are you hearing from current nfl players. >> we actually talk on a regular basis. we have one of the largest nfl chapters in the country. i was a tucking to our president, bobby howard. we had a discussion about what was going on. everybody's feeling the same way about how our president is, he's coming after us. and we have more stuff in our -- ours right now. the hurricane survivors. it's something that they believe in but we have something that's

more. >> eric mathews, thank you for sharing your thoughts. we really appreciate it. >> thank you for having me. >> we'll be right back. give me. crest pro-health mouthwash provides all... ...of these benefits to help you get better dental check-ups. go pro with crest mouthwash. checkup? nailed it

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in today's impact your world rocker john bon jn bon jovi's mo impact the homelessness with his pay it forward kitchen. >> reporter: this may look like a trendy new jersey restaurant, but it's actually a unique movement to feed those in need. >> i thought, how can we bring

people together in an affordable accessible way. we focused on the issue of homelessness, housing, food insecurities. it was one soul at a time. >> reporter: welcome to the jbj soul kitchen with two locations. here each meal is a mission. >> we have created what we now call a pay it forward model. >> reporter: so that would be some way that you can participate and help us. >> reporter: it was in rocker jon bon jovi's soul foundation. this community kitchen welcomes everyone to the table. >> there's no prices on the menu. if you are in fact in need, you volunteer. that pays for a meal for you and for your family. >> there's some bread and butter. >> should you choose to enjoy a meal, we suggest you buy a pay it forward card so that you not only effected change by paying for your meal but the one next to you. >> reporter: you don't know if somebody is dining here if they're in need or to pay it forward. everyone is treated the same.

>> howard's, how's that meatloaf? >> that's the key to our sec ses, empowering the individual. coming up, we are getting reaction now from nba champ kevin durant. what he is saying about the president calling out his teammate steph curry and nba players next. than our name suggests. we're an organic tea company. a premium juice company. a coconut water company. we've got drinks for long days. for birthdays. for turning over new leaves. and we make them for every moment in every corner of the country. we are the coca-cola company, and we're proud to offer so much more.

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you are in the "cnn newsroom." thank you for being with me. i'm anna cabrera. a stunning show of defiance from the nfl against president trump. every single kickoff today in cities throughout the country, players, coaches, even team owners are kneeling or locking arms in solidarity after president trump called for the nfl to fire any player who refuses to stand during the national anthem. this is how the falcons/lions game opened. owners took to the field and locked arm with their players. the singer also took a knee and raised his fist in the air. ♪ and the home of the brave